roll the dice
by racketeering
Summary: four kisses, and a revelation. love-square centric.


**summary: four kisses, and a revelation.**

 **pairings: [in order] ladynoir, adrinette, marichat, ladrien.**

 **sidenotes: o shit**

 **.**

 _-When_ he kisses Ladybug, it isn't like anything he's ever imagined.

And he definitely _has_ imagined.

He grabs her after an inept victory, overwhelmed with adrenaline and something else he can't place his finger (paw?) on, but it's a familiar feeling, one he remembers each time he's around her. She gives him a source of strength he never even knew he had. And he wants – _needs_ – to thank her for it.

His hands, locked around her upper arms which are hard and toned, pull her close with ease. She's probably expecting a hug, that's why she doesn't resist. But when he looks down at her from his towering height – it clicks in her brain. He always loves seeing every emotion splay out in her eyes like an ocean full of contempt, the waves battling every thought and every notion out all before him. Her eyes are a stunning blue just before she flutter shut as he draws closer.

His lips touch hers, and it's like a jolt of raw electricity shoots through his arms, so shocking he almost releases her and bolts. This is all he's ever wanted.

He's scared and he treats her like paper, cautious to keep her edges unfrayed and straight, and determined not to leave a crumple in sight.

Ladybug isn't as cautious. Her hands shoot to his shoulders and he is afraid she is going to push him away – and when she doesn't, he takes that as a fearless sign to press on.

He tilts his head in the slightest to gain better access to her mouth and lips – such uncharted territory he is careful to savor every moment he collects.

Her lips are softer than he anticipated, they are like quicksand and he's the idiot who tries to swim.

She leans forward briefly, with the sort of pressure that he identifies as her standing on her tiptoes, before sinking back down again and pulling away from him.

And then it's over. He must've only kissed her for three, maybe four seconds, but it feels like he has spent a lifetime living off her lips, devoured in their sweetness and contempt.

Her earrings beep ad she turns around, like nothing happened at all, and she is off just as swift as she arrived.

There is a sense of emptiness inside of him after she leaves – like he was expecting a tearful love confession from her instead of an impromptu kiss-and-run.

But, amongst this empty, feeling, there is also a promise in the back of his mind. A promise that he wouldn't allow that to be the last kiss he receives from Ladybug.

.

.

.

Kissing Marinette is an accident.

Well – by accident, he means he didn't intend to do it in the first place.

He stands in the empty classroom, long after school has concluded. He's avoiding going home. The hollowness of the school building was slightly more preferable than the emptiness of his own home.

She walks in. He doesn't know why she's still here, knowing her, she's probably forgotten her schoolbag, or her phone, or her homework. She is a forgetful soul. He looks at her oddly – like she's somehow invaded his privacy.

She clams up immediately. He's noticed that about her, too. She's remarkably stiff around him – _Adrien_ , that is. She is frozen in the doorway, perhaps out of embarrassment, or maybe she's just confused as to why he's still here.

She approaches him quietly. He only looks at her. No words are spoken between them.

"…Adrien?" She inquires, like she was unsure as to whether or not he is fully conscious.

"Yes?" He responds, not missing a beat. He's the gorgeous, the fabulous Adrien Agreste, is he not? Adrien has no reason to be sad. Marinette knows this.

And yet, her words speak the opposite.

"Are you ok?" She prods him gently, words reaching directly into his chest and giving his heart a rude awakening.

He doesn't intend to kiss her. But nobody – _nobody_ has ever asked Adrien Agreste if he is ok. And she says I with such ease, such touching worry he can't help it.

Like someone has dashed a cold bucket of ice water over his head, his hands snap forward and seize her shoulders. She jumps a bit, and he feels a sharp sense of guilt, but he eases her fear by looking directly into her endless blue eyes. Instantly she is silenced.

He leans in and seals the gap between their lips, and he is amazed at the way she simply _melts_ into him, her whole body touching part of his as her hands rest around his shoulders and across the nape of his neck. He bends down, she's a small, fragile thing, yet he can feel her strength through her lips, which are soft and almost hungry.

He captures her top lip, trying to convey his appreciation, perhaps in the most awkward, bizarre way possible.

She gratefully sucks on his bottom lip, she is more eager than he initially guesses. He gives leeway to her by coaxing her lips to part, and he pulls away softly.

Her eyes are glazed and he blinks oddly – Marinette never struck him to be a girl hungry for kisses, but she looks so stricken he leans in one more time to kiss her again, this time short, succinct, and velvety. She makes a soft squeaking sound before he releases her.

"I'm ok now." He tells her, almost smugly, before walking out. Somehow, within the span of only a few words, she has changed his outlook on life.

And he realizes that things are going to get a lot more complicated than they already were.

.

.

.

Kissing Marinette a second time is fully intentional.

He watches the car fly across the street, and at the moment, he isn't really bothered with the fact that the villain is tossing vehicles in every which way, he was much more concerned with simply subduing him until Ladybug would arrive.

That is, until he sees a Black Sedan soar straight towards one Marinette Dupain-Cheng, who happens to be running across the street at the wrong place, the wrong time.

Everything stops and he can feel himself tear away from whatever he was doing and drop _everything_ to save her.

It is terrifying – to say the least. He _has_ to be faster, just beat it by a second and he can save her – if he's even a moment too late, she dies.

There is a haunting moment of dead silence, he sees her eyes and the reflection of his mask in them and he is _desperate_ – he's never felt this helpless before as he literally _throws_ himself in front of her and slashes the air in front of him with his staff, praying the timing is correct and he can _save her-_

His staff meets the side of the car and instantly it dents, his overwhelming adrenaline-fueled strength sending it flying back towards it's source. He's done it. She's ok, she's ok _thank god she's safe-_

"Th-that, y-you just-" there is fear laced in her shaky words and he drops to his feet, hand falling to her cheek to make sure she can breathe properly.

"Are you alright," he breathes out anxiously, she nods a few times too many and he lets out a bitter, ironic laugh.

"Th-thank-" he cuts off her gratitude with a kiss, square on her lips. He is sdesperate to feel her solid warmth underneath him, a sole confirmation that she's _ok_ , she's not dead, she's _alive_.

She falls into him, a small moaning sound crawling from beneath her lips, and he has half a mind to grin against her lips. She matches his fervor, eagerly moving her lips against his despite being in the heat of battle. Perhaps she, too, craves the touch of someone else after being inches from death itself.

He provides her with smooth comfort, running his tongue slowly across the outer seam of her lips. She makes a soft noise and her lips part, responding to his silent messages greedily.

Of course, he didn't have enough time to obey her wish seeing as he was sort of fighting an akumatized citizen.

He pulls away from her at the sound of a crash. Her face is bright, ladybug-red, and he grins in satisfaction before giving her a small salute and running off to protect Paris, yet again.

Ladybug shows up only a minute or two after Marinette escapes to safety, and he is puzzled as to why she refuses to speak to him the whole fight.

.

.

.

He doesn't see her coming.

He is spending too much time on the roof – he knows it, and he can't say it's because he enjoys watching the stars. No. he is just hoping to catch a glimpse of her. She plagues his mind lately – confusion, mostly, between his feelings for Marinette and his feelings for her. Confliction leads him to solitude, and he awaits whatever comes first – sleep, or solace.

Except, she is the one to come first.

She looks fresh, glowing, she's probably just emerged from a quick battle that he missed out on. She is across the way, doing leaps and twirls that could wow the greatest acrobats.

He stands up immediately, eyes wide in admiration and respect. She stops moving briefly to turn towards the Agreste estate, and her eyes fall on him.

They linger for a few seconds, absorbing as much information as possible. Adrien can't recall all the times they've spoken together, at least, him, as Adrien.

She tilts her head to the side. He waves at her, not bothering to realize how strange that is. She smiles, and takes a leap off of the building, towards him.

He blushes quickly – was she _really_ coming over to talk to him? Things had been oddly tense between him and Ladybug since he'd kissed her as Chat Noir, maybe he'd actually get the opportunity to get to know her.

"Hey," she says, they are only a few feet away but he can hear his heartbeat like an endless roll of thunder.

"Hey." He repeats back to her.

"You…you're Adrien, right?" She asks hesitantly, taking a few more steps forward.

"Y-yeah. That's me." He answers nervously. She knows his name. She knows who he is. She-

"Um…listen. I know we don't really know each other, but…" Ladybug begins anxiously, drawing closer with every word.

He nods for her to continue, entranced by her very presence.

"Um…this girl who runs a blog about me is following me, do you mind if I hide here for a second with you..?" she sounds almost nervous, ad Adrien practically loses his mind on the spot.

"I…uh…of course!" He says hysterically, patting the spare roof next to him, begging for her to sit next to him.

"Thank you," she says in relief, sneaking over to sit next to him.

"It's…no problem. Who am I to refuse the hero of Paris?" He jokes before cringing immediately. God, he's embarrassing.

"Oh…haha…well, you know…I'm just doing what I can…" she mumbles shyly. It's odd of her to be this quiet. Maybe she's just not used to his company.

"You know, we're all really grateful. You do so much for us for so little. You're…you're really amazing." He says, before turning away shyly.

She looks at him, lovely eyes wide. She's thinking, he can tell, but he doesn't anticipate her next move. Not in a million years.

She leans forward and kisses him. It's as simple as that. He doesn't have time to breathe, to think, only to _respond._ Ladybug is kissing _him_. _Him._

He rests a hand on her hip and the other loops around her back, pulling her close and making sure she _knows_ exactly how ok he is with her kissing him.

Her mask touches his nose before he shifts again to get more access to her mouth, _more, more, more_ , he's breathing her in like life force and she's responding so powerfully he wants her to stay here with him, forever.

He accidentally lets out a groan when one of her hand fists the side of his shirt and she exhales against his lips before pulling away.

"Ladybug-"

she stands up, concealing her face from him as her bangs fall over her eyes.

"I-I'm sorry. I don't know what came over me. That was…" she stumbles across her words and begins to back away from him.

"Wait, Ladybug-"

"I have to go," her yoyo darts out from her hand and she disappears into the night sky.

He exhales slowly. She is gone. And with it, so is a small part of him. How had that even happened?

There is something going on around him. Something he just can't place his finger on.

But he is going to find out. He swears it upon himself, that by tomorrow, he'llknow what to do with his current love square issue.

.

.

.

He is eating a bowl full of honey nut cheerios the very next morning when it hits him.

He spits a barrage of sopping wet cheerios all over the table, and al over Plagg, who had been attempting to wrench open a locked box of cheese that Adrien had been saving for special occasions.

"What _gives_?" He asks, wiping some skim milk off of his forehead diligently.

"Marinette." He says simply. "Marinette. She…she…"

"Marinette? Fluffy pigtails?" Plagg inquires. "What about her? Say – didn't you smooch her in the-"

"She's…she's _Ladybug_."

"What makes you say that?" Plagg asks him boredly, somehow not interested anymore as he had managed to get the lid off of the cheese. "The hair? The eyes? Her voice? Her height? Literally _everything about her_?"

"I…wait a second…you _knew_?!" Adrien spits out more cheerios all over Plagg and his disgusting cheese.

" _Gross_ , man, you _have_ to stop doing that." Plagg shames, patting his cheese protectively. "And of course I knew. I mean…come on Adrien…"

"Well…that's…"

"Nevermind that," Plagg speaks, avoiding the subject. "How'd you finally figure it out?"

"I mean…I just…it all makes sense. The dots, they just…all connected, all of a sudden…." Adrien mumbles, rubbing his tired eyes like the sudden revelation has taken something out of him.

"Maybe you need a nap." Plagg advises. "Those always do the trick for me…"

"Be quiet, you lazy bum." He tells him, a soft, wondrous smile rising to his lips. "I can't sleep now, I know who _Ladybug_ is!"

"Yeah. Now all you have to do is explain to her why you kissed her as Marinette _and_ as Ladybug. Pretty sure that's frowned upon." Plagg smarts him easily.

"…Shit."

Yeah. It's going to be an interesting future for Ladybug and Chat Noir.


End file.
